A Study In Time
by TheDarkKunoichi
Summary: The whole neighborhood knows that the boy named Jim Moriarty is different in a bad way. He's smart, manipulative, and too sneaky for his own good. Everyone's afraid of what he could do. But not Molly Hooper. She seems to be the only one who can control him somehow, and always with a smile on her face. Just who is she really, and where did she come from? (Time travel AU/Childhood)


**Summary:**

 _ **The whole neighborhood knows that the boy named Jim Moriarty is different in a bad way. He's smart, manipulative, and too sneaky for his own good. Everyone's afraid of what he could do. But not Molly Hooper. She seems to be the only one who can control him somehow, and always with a smile on her face. Just who is she really, and where did she come from? (Time travel AU/Childhood fic)**_

 **This story is set after the events of Season 2, Episode 3: The Reichenbach Fall. Again, this is a time-travel fic, so don't confuse it with a normal childhood story.**

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 **Chapter One**

.

James 'Jim' Moriarty is a very special boy. So special in fact, that he is practically called a genius since he was only 3 years old...

Not believable? Many people practically scoff whenever they hear about it and leave. To them, the very idea is impossible.

Well, it's not.

Jim Moriarty excels in _everything_. Mathematics, all the branches of Science, History... _every_ subject you can think of. He's at the top of his class, which is why he thought it best to convince his parents to stop sending him to school because he never learns _anything_ of value there. Besides, it's just a waste of money.

The moment he asked, they immediately said yes. His stupid parents couldn't care less about him anyway, so it's understandable. Jim couldn't care less about _them_ either.

With him studying alone, either at home, at the library, or at the park, his knowledge slowly increases. He's finally realizing just how dumb the people in this world could be. All their brains are empty, dull, boring. All they do is stuff it with useless information, like that thing they called cartoons. Can cartoons help you survive in life? Can they feed you? Bathe you? No. But those idiotic children likes it, so who is Jim to argue? Let them rot their brains out.

Continuing to expand his knowledge, he started watching the streets and how different kinds of people act. That's the time Jim learned that he can be an excellent judge of people. He can read them and guess correctly what they have been doing earlier in the day just by looking at the soles of their shoes and the condition of their clothes. He had asked a lot of people and has tested this theory multiple times to know that it's true. As far as he knew, no one has that ability except for himself, and it made him feel very proud of such an accomplishment.

Not long after, every single person he met began talking about him, calling him a prodigy. A child genius. The modern Einstein. They all wondered who could possibly be the parents of the _five year old_ genius. They never expected the parents to be total, abusive, idiotic drunkards.

Jim Moriarty's parents are simply dangerous once offended. So much so that even the officials are afraid whenever they encountered the couple. This practically made Jim Moriarty untouchable, especially to those bullies and criminals in their neighborhood, for his own parents are criminals themselves.

This didn't mean that Jim Moriarty never had his fair share of bruises. As for who he got it from, it doesn't take a genius to find out. Jim is constantly getting beaten by his parents. He knows that almost everyone knows, and that made it hurt the most, because they were all too afraid to do anything about it.

Cowards. The lot of them.

Jim just takes it all on stride, or at least that's what he wants them all to believe. In truth he is deeply hurt and enraged by the treatment his own parents are giving him. How dare they beat their own child? How dare they lift a finger at a genius like himself? His mind is worth a thousand times more than both his parents combined. They should be bowing down to him, doing everything they can to keep him happy. Instead, they treat him like a worthless piece of trash.

But Jim Moriarty has it all planned. The moment he's all grown up, the moment he's free, he's going to look for ways. Ways to make his parents suffer. He's going to make them pay. And by the end of the day, they'll both be _dead_.

Because no one crosses Jim Moriarty.

...

Imbeciles. The lot of them.

Jim Moriarty sneered at a couple of children who dared to come close to him. The stupid kids scuttled off, too scared to talk to him. Great, imbeciles AND cowards.

Jim currently sat on a bench at his favorite park, all alone in the crowd of children and adults running around like chickens that got their heads cut off. There was a lot of noise, when usually, the park is peaceful. Maybe because of the fact that it is summer vacation. Well screw it then. How they remained idiotically happy like that, Jim doesn't know. Nor does he care.

A kid younger than him suddenly ran and reached the bench he was sitting on, obviously about to sit on it.

Not a chance.

He immediately shot a hand out to stop the kid from climbing on. The kid looked up in confusion, which Jim took as an opportunity to glower at him like he's seen his parents do. It will certainly make any child cry.

Just as he predicted, the kid burst into tears. He smirked internally and whispered, "Scram brat."

The kid was gone in a mess of crying and screaming.

Jim straightened up and smiled contentedly, very pleased with himself. He had been practicing that glare a hundred times to scare anyone else who bothered him. It didn't only work, he even made a kid cry!

Suddenly, he caught someone in his peripheral vision whisper something to his companion while looking at him. He narrowed his eyes and watched as that particular message got sent from child, to child, to child. A quick look at their faces and he immediately knew what the message was about.

 _Stay away from him._

Good. It makes them less irritating to deal with then.

He can almost feel the total fear radiating from the whole area. He almost smiled. Let them all fear him, as long as they talk less, it suits him just fine.

Just then, a middle-aged woman approached him, looking stern and ready to scold. The kid he frightened is hiding behind her, which means that this woman is his mother. Jim narrowed his eyes and stood up straight as he watched them approach, ready for the approaching fight.

"You stupid boy!" She practically hissed. "How _dare_ you make my poor little Chris cry! Didn't your parents ever teach you manners?!"

"No, as a matter of fact, they did not." Jim replied calmly. "And I wouldn't recommend you to try and scold me for it when you clearly lack some manners yourself. What kind of well-mannered person would yell at a child? Besides, it was that stupid kid's fault. He has eyes, yes? So he could surely see that I already occupied this bench. Therefore, he must ask for permission first before he went around running and sitting wherever he likes." He sneered at the woman, who looked at a loss for words. Pleased, he continued just to spite her. "I can see that your husband left you, judging by the lack of a ring in your hand. Not because he died, no, because widows still wear their husband's rings even if they're long gone. So I bet he just couldn't handle that hot-tempered attitude of yours, which I saw earlier that day when you went around yelling at people for no reason whatsoever. You should really cure that habit of yours, you wouldn't want people to see your own lack of _manners_ , right?" He smirked.

The park went silent.

"Y-You... you! You insolent little _brat_!" She yelled and started to raise her hand to slap him. Jim glared and prepared himself to block it, when all of a sudden, something brown filled his vision.

"I'm really sorry! He doesn't mean it! My brother here just tends to blab about random things. Nothing special!" A girl's voice suddenly interrupted, causing his eyes to widen in shock. "Please forgive us! I'll be sure to tell our parents once we get home."

There was a long pause, and Jim desperately tried to peek through the brown thing (' _hair'_ , his mind told him) blocking his vision. Who the hell tried to stick up for him? Didn't she know that he can fight his own battles?!

"You better keep him in line young lady, or I swear I will speak to both your parents myself!" The woman _'hmmphed'_ and finally stalked off, dragging her child with her, who's still staring ashen-faced at Jim.

"Try, by all means." Jim muttered to himself. He waited until the two idiots are gone before finally confronting the other idiot who tried to defend him.

"So now that they're both gone, I suppose I can finally ask who the _bloody hell_ told you to stick up for me? Can't you see that I can handle myself just fine!?" He growled at the girl. It was a direct damage to his pride. He can defend himself, dammit!

There was a pause, before... "Well I _did_ see that, but I decided to help you anyway. I wanted to talk to you, but that woman took so long and I'm getting impatient enough as it is." The girl finally turned to face him, her long brown hair finally removing itself from his face. She beamed when she saw him, and Jim felt his face turn into a frown.

Suddenly, he noticed something serious and his heart quickly filled with dread.

Already, his new-found knowledge is failing him. He can't get a read on anything about this girl! He can see that they're both the same age, and that she came from a well-off family judging by her clothes, but that's the end of his readings.

 _How is that possible?!_

No one has been able to escape his readings. He can even read complete strangers! So who is this random girl that suddenly appeared out of nowhere threatening to ruin everything he studied about?!

Feeling absolutely panicked, he stared in shock at the little girl who is still smiling at him, hazel eyes twinkling madly, as if she knows a really interesting secret and isn't planning to share.

"I'm Molly Hooper, what's your name?"

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 **Please review! Constructive criticism is welcome!**


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